Number 2
snivelled, grovelled, crawled on his knees. He pleaded with the Prisoner to
tell him again why he resigned. But of course Number 2 extracted more than most
of all the Number 2’s. The Prisoner having resigned for peace of mind, because
too many people know too much. After all that was as much as the Prisoner had
ever given away about the reason behind his resignation. And yet, well the
first Number 2 understood it to be a matter of principle, that isn’t what the
Prisoner told the Colonel. He told him that it was a matter of conscience. But
its not enough is it, simply to say that it was a matter of conscience, because
too many people know too much. They will still know too much whether the
Prisoner resigned or not. But the one thing they didn’t know, was the reason
behind the Prisoner’s resignation, despite being in possession of his letter of
resignation, which might have explained nothing. So they had the Prisoner
incarcerated in The Village in order to have that information extracted.
On the other hand, it might be that the Prisoner worked as
an agent for The Village, in the business of gathering information about
people. But something went wrong, the Prisoner developed a conscience, and
feeling that he could not perform the duty for which he was recruited any
longer, he went and resigned. He wanted out. But there was only in, because
when one works for The Village it’s for life. The organisation behind The
Village couldn’t have one of their own resigning and walking away. So they had
Number 6 brought to The Village in order to extract the reason why he resigned,
and try to understand what had gone wrong with one of their own! Of course that
doesn’t take into account that the Prisoner doesn’t recognise The Village on
his arrival there. Then again the Prisoner could have been working for The
Village without ever having been there or not knowing anything about how The
Village works. Something on the lines of, the construction of the Mulberry
harbour for D-Day. It was built in sections in different parts of the country,
nobody building it knew what it was for. But they were responsible for making
their section of the harbour correctly. After all, the construction of The
Village, its administration, and all the details didn’t just appear over night,
hundreds of people must have worked to their own remit but not necessarily
knowing what it was for in the end. The Prisoner could easily have been amongst
their number in some capacity. Being responsible for organising security for
example, seeing as he worked for British Intelligence. Then at some later date,
having learned of his involvement, and what The Village was being used for, he
resigned, unable to have that on his conscience! After all, Number 6 did tell
the Colonel during his de-briefing “The Village, is a place where people turn
up, people who know too much or too little.” Now there is a great deal which
happens in ‘the Prisoner’ to which we are not privy. Yet we never hear anyone
tell Number 6 this, so how did he know? Remembering that by the time of ‘The
Chimes of Big Ben,’ Number 6 is relatively new to The Village.
Be seeing you
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